Heather Lafferty leads construction of families’ future homes

Heather Lafferty believes stable homes are the key to healthy and successful lives.

She’s worked on many social issues, including teen pregnancy and food disparity, and said the solutions stem from developing affordable and stable homes for low-income families.

Lafferty has been working for Habitat for Humanity for 12 years. She started at Habitat for Humanity International and then moved to Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver as director of development. She worked at Community Shares of Colorado for a short time before coming back to Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver in 2008 as executive director and CEO.

“It speaks so closely to my values and what I want to see in the world for future generations,” Lafferty said.

This year, Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver will sell 42 homes to low-income families in the area. The average cost of a Habitat home in Metro Denver is $155,000, but the prices vary, Lafferty said. It takes a collaboration with local government, building vendors, landowners, volunteers and community members to build the low-income homes, she said.

Habitat works with subcontractors to build the foundations and flat work, such as roads, driveways and sidewalks, for new homes. Volunteers build the rest of the structure.

On a job site, a construction supervisor starts the day by giving a safety orientation. Then volunteers are broken up into small groups, and the construction supervisor gives each group a tutorial on their project for the day. Usually, inexperienced volunteers are paired with regular ones, who commit at least one day a week to working on Habitat job sites, Lafferty said.

“Construction is not that difficult when you break it down in small sections,” she said.

Lafferty has helped build many Habitat homes. She doesn’t have a lot of construction skills, but said she enjoys it because “every day on a habitat site is an empowering, thrilling day.”

Whether it’s seeing a room of studs covered in drywall or a bare roof getting covered in shingles, “It’s the tangible outcomes that make a day at the Habitat site so exciting,” she said.

Habitat purchases most of the materials, but also receives donations of building items, Lafferty said.

The people who buy Habitat homes have an income between 35 and 50 percent of the local median income. To get these homes, the recipients must demonstrate a need for housing and volunteer at least 200 hours to Habitat to build both their homes and others in the area. They also have to be able to pay the zero-interest mortgage that Habitat provides and take a homebuyer’s course.

“Our homeowners are willing to work to have the opportunity,” Lafferty said. “Habitat is a hand up, not a hand out.”

This year, Lafferty is helping launch the critical repair program, which will help homeowners make serious repairs to their homes. It’s expected that four homes in the Globeville neighborhood of Denver will be repaired this year. Lafferty said she hopes 10 homes will be repaired next year.

She’s part of the Denver Regional Housing Collaborative, a new group working to provide advocacy and leadership for affordable housing. She’s been working with the group, comprised of many local affordable housing organizations, for more than a year.

Lafferty also has worked on many international Habitat projects. Most recently, she went to Haiti to build homes for earthquake victims. The team built 100 homes in five days. Many of the families had been living in tents or under a piece of plastic since the earthquake in January 2010, she said.

One of the families she met included a woman, Mika, and her 19-year-old daughter; they had been living under a sheet of plastic since the earthquake. Mika said she would find something to sell in order to get money for food and barely slept in two years because she wanted to protect her daughter from their unsafe environment, Lafferty said.

“People have nothing,” Lafferty said of the Haitians. “Yet their hope and spirit, values and joy sing loudly.”